ब्रह्मन्

ब्रह्मन् m

1. Devanagari script form of brahman (“Brahma”)

From Proto-Indo-Aryan *bʰŕ̥źʰma, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *bʰŕ̥ȷ́ʰma, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“to become high, rise, elevate”). Literally “growth”, “expansion”, “creation”, “development”, “swelling of the spirit or soul”. Cognate with Latin fortis. The Sanskrit root is बृह् (bṛh, “to increase, grow, expand”) +‎ -मन् (-man), from the same Proto-Indo-European root above.

Alternatively, Mayrhofer prefers to derive the word from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreǵʰ- and connect it to Old Norse bragr (“leader, prince”), whence Icelandic bragur (“poem; character”).

An older etymology presented the word as an exact cognate of Latin flāmen (“priest”); however, this is commonly considered spurious by modern authors.

• (Vedic) IPA^(key): /bɾɐ́ɦ.mɐn/
• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈbɾɐɦ.mɐn̪/

ब्रह्मन् • (bráhman) n

1. Brahman or the one self-existent impersonal Spirit, the one universal Soul, the Self-existent, the Absolute, the Eternal

ब्रह्मन् • (brahmán) m

1. Brahmā or the one impersonal universal Spirit manifested as a personal Creator and as the first of the triad of personal gods

ब्रह्मन् • (bráhman) stem, n

1. pious effusion or utterance, outpouring of the heart in worshipping the gods, prayer
2. the sacred word (as opp. to वाच् (vāc), the word of man), the Veda, a sacred text, a text or mantra used as a spell
3. the Brahmana portion of the Veda
4. the sacred syllable om

ब्रह्मन् • (brahmán) stem, m

1. one who prays, a devout or religious man, a brahmin who is a knower of Vedic texts or spells, one versed in sacred knowledge
2. one of the 4 principal priests or Ritvijas

• → Tamil: பிரமன் (piramaṉ)
• → Kannada: ಬೊಮ್ಮ (bomma)

• ब्राह्मण (brā́hmaṇa)

• Monier Williams (1899) “ब्रह्मन्”, in A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, […], new edition, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 737/3.
• Mayrhofer, Manfred (1996) Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen [Etymological Dictionary of Old Indo-Aryan]‎ (in German), volume 2, Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, pages 236-238
• Mayrhofer, Manfred (1963) Kurzgefasstes Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindischen [A Concise Etymological Sanskrit Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, pages 452-456